Blaze couldn't get himself to calm down after leaving Amelia's ward. His nose was flared and his lethal gaze was contoured with rage as he dialed Marcus number and boomed over the phone.
"Send the helicopter here, right now." He ended the call abruptly, his death grip on the phone almost crushing the device.
Sighting a nurse approaching him from the left wing, he turned his vicious glare towards her, almost giving the unfortunate mature woman a heart attack.
"Get Doctor Luke and see to it that the young lady in VIP ward 5 is taken care of."
"Yes, sir..." The mature nurse nodded her head vigorously as she scurried past the scary-looking young man, afraid that he would shoot her down with his laser beam eyes.
Turning towards the hospital exit, Blaze stormed out of the building, cursing under his breath and venting his anger on innocent employees of the private hospital.
No one had ever pushed him to this limit of anger. Not even his dear mother or his overbearing grandparents. He was treated like a prince in his family and worshipped like a demigod amongst his business rivals.
'How in the hell did he become an asshole overnight after rescuing that brat?' Blaze felt like punching a hole through the air as he waited patiently for his helicopter to arrive.
All he wanted to do at the moment was get as far away as possible from this annoying wild cat before he did something he would live to regret.
Thirty minutes later, the thrumming sound of an approaching helicopter forced Blaze to look up. He took a long stride to the rooftop helipad where the helicopter had just landed.
"Good evening, sir." Marcus cautiously approached his stoned face boss, wondering who had provoked him to this extent.
Blaze ignored his greeting as he gave more instructions between clenched jaws.
"Keep an eye on that ungrateful brat and give me a steady update on her improvement. But do not make contact with her until I tell you to."
"Yes, sir." Marcus nodded.
"And make sure she doesn't contact anyone outside this hospital otherwise I'll have your head on a stake," Blaze said before climbing the helicopter and giving the pilot the go signal.
Marcus swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat at his boss's threat knowing he wasn't the type to make empty threats. He moved backwards as the helicopter rotor blade started spinning, the increasing speed generating a lift until the helicopter was airborne.
"It seems the young miss is awake. But what could she have said or done to get on the boss's nerves." Marcus muttered under his breath as he made his way into the hospital ward.
*****
It had been six days, four hours, and thirty-five minutes since the last time Amelia saw Mr grumpy or any other human aside from the friendly doctors and nurses attending to all her needs.
Aside from the wall clock in her VIP ward and a television that was only tuned to one movie channel, she was denied access to any form of civilization outside the hospital facility.
With no mobile phone to call for help, no gadgets to know what was happening outside the walls of the hospital and no one to cry to, Amelia felt like a privileged handicapped prisoner.
Even the nurses and doctors were careful of the things they said to her. If she didn't know any better, she would say it was Mr Grumpy's way of punishing her for calling him an asshole.
'What a sadist...' She thought, hating on Blaze the more.
Thankfully, she could now climb out of her bed and move around inside her ward with minimal assistance.
"Dr Luke, you and your team have been doing a great job taking care of me. But when would I get discharged from this godforsaken place?" Amelia was a the point of shedding tears.
"In a day or two." The doctor reassured her.
Later that evening, Amelia who had been soundly asleep woke up only to find a man seated two meters away from her. He was professionally cladded in a well-tailored black suit paired with a matching pair of black polished shoes. He was slouching on the chair with his face turned sideways.
Happy, Amelia could tell that he was not Mr Grumpy. But who was he?
'My Grumpy bodyguard?' Amelia thought as she stared at him with mixed feelings. She slowly sat up, trying her best not to make a sound. But the damn bed creaked under her weight, attracting the man's attention.
"Oh...Miss Amelia, you are awake." Marcus abruptly stood up as if he had been caught slacking on duty. He forced a smile as he carefully approached her bedside.
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here." Amelia narrowed her gaze at Marcus, unsure of his motives.
"I'm Marcus Haze, Mr Blaze Anderson's personal assistant. It's good to finally see that you are in better shape." Marcus extended his hand towards her.
"Really!" Amelia raised her brows suspiciously, eyeing his outstretched hand.
"Yes, Miss Amelia," Marcus replied, withdrawing his hand when he saw the way she was scowling at him.
Something about the way the young miss was glaring at him reminded him of his boss. She was very feisty and had the potential of being a troublemaker.
'What a perfect pair they would make.' Marcus thought.
"Where is your so-called boss?" Amelia asked relaxing her back on the raised pillow while staring at her unkept nails that were in dire need of a manicure. "Don't tell me I scared the shit out of him after our last encounter."
"Scared?" Marcus was forced to suppress a chuckle. Now he understood why Blaze was very angry. She must have said something nasty to him. "No Miss Amelia, he wasn't scared. He just had other important things to do."
"Yeah right." Amelia rolled her eyes at Marcus. "He had me locked up in here simply because I called him an asshole."
"You did what?" Marcus's jaws dropped.
"You heard me. I called him an asshole for playing a costly prank on me." Amelia sneered feeling no remorse for what she had said.
Marcus was speechless.
"Look here, Mr Marcus..."
"Just call me Marcus, Miss Amelia." Marcus finally found his voice.
"Okay, Marcus. I know I may have said something offensive to your grumpy boss."
'Grumpy!' Marcus chuckled inwardly as he imagined Blaze's stoned face anytime he was angry. 'She is right.'
"But that doesn't give him the right to keep me locked up in here," Amelia said bitterly, sitting up. "I have a family who are looking for me right now. I have a life out there. I have friends who miss me. I have a business to run. I'm supposed to be married. Please tell your boss to set me free. Tell him, 'thank you' for saving me and bringing me to this hospital. I will ensure he is handsomely rewarded for all his efforts after I speak to my father."
Again, Marcus was stunned by this pretty lady's cluelessness about what was happening in her so-called perfect life. He felt genuinely sorry for her.
"I will ensure Mr Blaze gets your message but if you do not mind, Miss Amelia, I would appreciate it if you do not address my boss as an asshole or any other mean words in future."
"Fine, I will try and remember that. Now, may I use your phone, please." Amelia stretched out her left hand.
"What for?"
Amelia's forehead furrowed. "To call my family, dummy..." She echoed the last word in her heart afraid that she may ruin her chances of getting in touch with her father.
"Miss Amelia, I don't think that is a wise decision."
"How is calling my family to come to my aid an unwise decision." Amelia gave Marcus a disdainful scoff.
Marcus cleared his throat, as he pulled a seat close to her and sat down, holding her angry gaze.
"Miss Amelia, a lot of things have happened over the last six days since the accident. I'm guessing that you recall what happened before the accident. Right?"
A sickening feeling crept up Amelia's spine as memory of her abduction and torture flashed across her mind. She became suspicious of what Marcus knew.
"No. What happened before the accident?" Amelia asked pretending to have a memory loss.
"You were kidnapped, Miss Amelia but you somehow escaped from your enemies."
"How did you know?" Amelia slowly pushed herself backwards, fear lacing her tone.
Sensing Amelia's mistrust, Marcus quickly reassured her that he was not the enemy, and neither was Blaze. He recounted how she had accidentally run off the bridge while trying to avoid colliding with them.
"But that doesn't answer my question. You haven't told me how you knew I was kidnapped if you weren't there in the first place." Amelia pointed out.
Marcus sighed.
"Miss Amelia, I think you're ready to hear the truth about your abduction and the reason why. But I'm not going to say much. Let me show you. Brace yourself."
Marcus bought out an iPad he kept hidden all this while. He opened his video gallery and selected a compiled video.
"Watch this." He gave the iPad to Amelia, who received it with trembling hands.
The sight of Jerry walking out of the cathedral with a beaming bride who had a strange resemblance to Gwen made Amelia stiffen.